Activists outside of police station calling for a slave owner to be charged.

Faith Traditions Against Slavery

Mauritania's population is almost entirely Muslim.

Mauritanian slave owners often distort the teachings of Islam in order to maintain control of their slaves. They tell them that Islam supports their brutal practice of slavery. This is not true and is disrespectful to a religion that has always counted notable abolitionists, and those who have struggled bravely against their own enslavement, as adherents. An International Muslim Abolitionist Movement (IMAM) was even created to provide education about the strong and clear anti-slavery aspects of Islam. Read more...

Aichana Abeid Boilil Award

The Abolition Institute’s Aichana Abeid Boilil Award is named after the first woman rescued from slavery in Mauritania by our partner organization SOS Slaves. SOS Slaves was founded in 1995 and has worked since then – under risk of imprisonment and violence from pro-slavery forces – to liberate people like Aichana from slavery.Read more...

Press

Abolition Institute co-signs letter with Freedom House urging Secretary of State John Kerry to reconsider Mauritania's eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act in light of ongoing human rights abuses.